The row over the killing - and over who has the right to claim Mr Kim's body from the mortuary where it is being held - has rapidly escalated over the past two weeks.

Both Malaysia and North Korea have already expelled each other's ambassadors, when on Tuesday North Korea announced it was temporarily banning any Malaysians currently in its country from leaving, citing security reasons.

Image copyrightAPImage captionNorth Korea's ambassador to Malaysia left the country on Monday after being expelled

The state news agency KCNA said the ban would stay in place "until the incident that happened in Malaysia is properly solved", but that Malaysians in the country would be able to carry on their lives as normal.